


Work In Progress

by hoodhoranyou



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28416870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoodhoranyou/pseuds/hoodhoranyou





	Work In Progress

Flashback: Frankie’s POV

Someone had the refrigerator door open.  
The glow of the refrigerator life cast their shadow across the kitchen island. Usually, I was the one sneaking down to the kitchen in the middle of the night. It was a result of one part too much Google searching and two parts insomnia. I stood in the doorway of the kitchen and watched the shadow shuffle items around in the fridge before seemingly finding what they were looking for.  
The door closed with a snick and the kitchen went dark. The only noise came from the persons socked feet as they moved across the kitchen floor. I reached up and turned on the light.  
Edith stood, dressed in a sweatshirt three sizes too big, frozen in front of the silverware drawer with her back to the doorway.  
“Do you always creep around other peoples kitchens at three in the morning?”  
Edith’s shoulders shook in one of her infamous silent laughs.  
“Do you always creep around in the dark? Besides, I'm pretty sure these days I’m here more than you are.”  
She had a point. I’d been spending as much time away from home as I possibly could. It was the only way to feel like I wasn’t suffocating.  
“Are you gonna share or do I gotta get my own?”  
Edith had turned to face me clutching a container of cottage cheese and pineapple. She reached behind her and grabbed another spoon out of the drawer.  
“I was going to go sit outside.”  
She gestured to the back door and I straightened from where I’d been leaning on the door frame. Edith quietly unlocked the door and slid it open letting the sound of the crickets seep into the kitchen. She stuck her hand back inside the kitchen and turned on the porch light.  
When we settled on the steps of the deck she handed me a spoon.  
“Remember the summer your dad built this.” She gestured to the deck that I now noticed had begun to show its age.  
I don’t think I’d ever forget that summer.  
“Dad hated those stupid green steps.”  
Edith chuckled and popped the lid on the container she’d placed in her lap.  
“I distinctly remember a fourteen year old Frankie begging to help and then almost immediately piercing her hand with the nail gun.”  
“Har Har. In my defense that thing was way heavier than it looked. I got demoted to toolbox duty for the rest of the summer.”  
“Think though, had you injured yourself you wouldn’t be able to become a surgeon, Dr. Turner.”  
She was the only person that knew I wanted to become a surgeon. If I told too many people it would feel a lot like jinxing myself.  
“Gah, I can’t believe I told you that.”  
“Well drunk Frankie doesn’t exactly have a filter.”  
I blushed. I’d told her entirely too many things. Personal things. Like crushes. Specifically crushes on girls. How I’ve not told her I was in love with her had to be a miracle.  
“You know a polite person wouldn’t use my weakness against me.”  
Edith picked at the hole in the cuff of her sweater looking around at everything but me. Somehow the tone had shifted from playful to serious in a matter of seconds.  
“You know you can tell me anything right? Drunk or sober. Actually I think I prefer sober Frankie. Don’t get me wrong drunk Frankie is a blast but…”  
Now it was my turn to avoid looking at her. I could feel her staring a whole right through me.  
“Let’s be honest she’s not that fun.”  
Edith pulled her knees in and rested her chin on her arms. “Why aren’t you ever home anymore?” She turns her head to face me, her big green eyes tug loose a brick in the wall I’d built.  
“I’m pretty sure my alter ego’s already told you.” The birds around are beginning to wake up for the day. Edith pulls her knees up and rests her head on them. Our cottage cheese abandoned the step below. “You should really get back to bed. Maggie’s going to wonder where you went.”  
“Stop. You and I both know she’s going to sleep until noon and will never know the difference.”  
“You can’t tell anyone. Edith. If they ... If they find out that I’m gay I don’t know what they’d do.” She lifts her head and shuffles closer to me. She picks my hand up from its place on the step and grips it between both of hers. “I’m just trying to survive the next two months until graduation and then I can move on to campus.”  
“That’s not my story to tell, Frankie. Only you get to decide who gets to know and when they get to know and how they get to know. I’m sorry your alter ego kind of ruined it. But I’m glad you were the one to really tell me. She would mostly just drone on about the checkout girl at the grocery store.”  
I let out a breathy laugh and blink back tears.  
“I don’t know where I’d be right now if Maggie hadn’t spent all of fifth grade dragging you around.”  
She rests her head back on her knees, and looks out into the yard, but one of her hands remains in mine.  
We sit for a few minutes listening to the sounds of the early morning.  
Finally, she takes a deep breath, sits up straight, and turns to look at me. A strand of hair falls into her face and in the most cliched move possible I reach up and tuck it behind her ear.  
“Please. Please, don’t ever scare me like that again.” I reach up and stop a tear from making a track down her cheek. “I don’t think I can handle losing you.”  
She flipped my hand over and ran her thumb over the scar that ran from the knuckle of my forefinger across the back of my hand. The wreck had been a little over two months ago and the scar was beginning to flatten and settle into my skin. A permanent reminder that I could have died that night. A permanent reminder that I got lucky.  
“I’m sorry.” I pull my hand free from her and cup her face with both of my hands wiping away the last of the stray tears. “I’m not going anywhere.”  
“Frankie.” Now it was her turn to reach up and wipe away a tear I didn’t realize had escaped.  
We sat there for a moment just staring at one another.  
“Edith.”  
“Please.” She gently places her hand on the back of my neck and guides me forward. Our lips met and for a moment it was as if my brain completely shut down before it restarts and I’m only aware of her and her lips against mine. I feel her giggle and I smile into the kiss.  
When we finally part I realize that the sun is coming up over the trees, I realize that I’ve spent the better part of the last few minutes kissing the only person who knows who I am. The one person I was so stupidly in love with.  
“Edith.” I touch her cheek, again, just to make sure I’m not hallucinating. “What are we doing?”  
She laughs though it seems almost a little sad but her eyes are greener than I’d ever seen them before.  
“I see you Frankie Turner.” She rests her forehead against mine. “Whether you want me to or not.”


End file.
